


Convince Me Otherwise

by sciencebitch



Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Disputes, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Established Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Hannibal Lecter Loves Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter has a big ego, Jealous Hannibal Lecter, M/M, Making Up, Murder Husbands, No Smut, One Shot, Will Graham Knows, Will Graham Loves Hannibal Lecter, but like no explicit murder is going on, but will do anything for Will, kind of, no surprise there, this doesn't work well when he's meant to be angry with him, will graham gets what he wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29525898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciencebitch/pseuds/sciencebitch
Summary: “Where areyougoing?” Will said, a bite of accusation in his voice.Hannibal looked at him, standing in only his jumper, face chilled pink and hugging himself against the wind. He swallowed his pride. “Out to find you,”---or Hannibal tries to stay angry at Will until he returns but he's already getting worried.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 9
Kudos: 166





	Convince Me Otherwise

He was starting to worry. A twinge in the back of his mind just as if he'd left a window on the latch and gone out: nothing would happen, but there was always a chance that on this particular day, this precise moment in time, something could. 

He hadn't left a window open. He hadn't even gone out. Will had gone out; grabbed his coat, slammed the door and disappeared. The last words on his lips much fouler than he would likely want to admit later…hopefully. For he clearly hadn't regretted them enough yet to return. Hannibal clenched his jaw and got up from his desk. He couldn't even concentrate enough to pretend he was working. Besides, who was he pretending for anyway? No one was here but himself. Will wasn't there. 

He walked into the hall. He could smell him out here. An earthy, animalistic scent a little too desperately covered up with cheap aftershave and cologne that contaminated Hannibal's façade in the most beautiful way, creeping through his corridors just the way Will did when he didn’t quite feel he belonged. The way he stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down when he walked, as if the very walls of the house disapproved of his presence and how, whenever he came through the door, he would hang his coat with the utmost care and neatness, in some semi conscious way of convincing Hannibal he could belong in a place like this. 

Will never believed in it when he did things like that; he just thought it was what Hannibal wanted. Even Hannibal had thought it was what Hannibal wanted, for a moment. But the more Will had blended into Hannibal's aesthetics and tastes, the more lost he had become in it, until Hannibal felt he couldn't find him through such a veil anymore. That was the only time Hannibal had suggested they spend time apart - and what an agony it had been.

Will had returned however, his perfect Will, with ruggedness and fisherman’s jackets and the smell of dogs on his skin; with rough hands and carelessly chopped hair and his old sense that nothing could be better than being back out in the winter air, wrapped up, boots on, trudging through snow or long grass, as much a stray in the world as those he kept so dearly. Hannibal would naturally take him in once more, ease him into believing otherwise, delicately pick him apart and though he knew he could have so easily put him back together any way he liked, this time it was as much a gift to see how Will remolded himself, given the opportunity.

Will’s evolution was the story he could sit back and enjoy from afar, though he desperately didn’t want to, so when the time came for Will to call him back, it was with much gratitude he came. 

He made ugly things beautiful to Hannibal, and of course, that is what Hannibal did for him. 

So then, where had this come from? What had broken their cultivated harmony? 

Hannibal sighed and carried on towards the front door, past their coats on the coat rack, his, Will’s. _Will’s?_

So Will hadn’t taken his coat after all and would simply rather freeze to death than return. Unless he was elsewhere, _inside_ elsewhere. He can’t be home: his keys were still on the side. Hannibal hoped he had a spare pair. Then he could just be mulling around at his house, perhaps wondering if Hannibal would be desperate enough to drive out there. Where _was_ he? 

If, on the slight chance he would, he had visited someone else, Hannibal had already cleared the front room for him to sleep on the sofa. 

Petty. Will would think it, most likely say it too, and Hannibal would know it, but neither would break and, well, they could cross the bridge of who would talk first tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning. 

He sighed again, picked up his own coat, considered Will’s for a moment and then decided against it. If Will was cold, he could wear Hannibal’s. Hannibal would like that; Will would too, might even say it if he wasn’t still angry. 

However, before Hannibal’s hand could even reach the doorknob, it twisted and with a click of an opening lock, the door opened. 

“Where are _you_ going?” Will said, a bite of accusation in his voice. 

Hannibal looked at him, standing in only his jumper, face chilled pink and hugging himself against the wind. He swallowed his pride. “Out to find you,” _Only for you_ , he thought, though what he said came out a little begrudgingly. “Where have you been?”

Will looked either side of himself on the street and bit his lip, a shiver taking over his body for a second. Hannibal conceded once more: he stepped aside and gestured for Will to come in. Will obeyed and, when Hannibal had shut the door, he watched him remove his coat and gloves.

“Oh, so you were actually coming to find me,”

“Do I make it a habit of lying to you, Will?” It was a dig. Will took it as one, biting the inside of his cheek and wrapping his arms tighter around himself despite the warmth of the house. Hannibal ignored him and walked passed, back down the hall and into the kitchen. “I smell beer on you, Will,” he called back. Later on neither of them would be sure if it was another taunt, but right now it meant Will followed him quickly into the room.

“I just went to a bar. It was warmer in there and they wanted me to buy something, so I just-”

“It didn’t seem important for you to explain yourself to me earlier, why should it be now?” 

“Fucking hell, Hannibal.” 

“Hm,” 

“I should've said. Look, I’m sorry. But I didn’t lie to you.” His voice was rising again and Hannibal just looked at him tiredly. There was guilt in his face and Hannibal decided Will could enjoy his regret on his own. He gave him one last look before walking swiftly passed and up the stairs. Neither of them needed to say: they knew where Will would sleep tonight.

\---

A quiet shower, sort a few things and then Hannibal was in bed. He lay awake, listening for the click off of the light downstairs and then utter silence in the house. He didn’t want to sleep: he didn’t want to wake up in the morning and have to play that game again. What had Will even done? Told a half-truth, an almost-lie. He could have forgiven him in an instant, but it wasn’t about him; it was about whether Will would as quickly do it again. The conclusion Will would come to was no, but he needed some more time to mull it over first, to let it really set in. Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe they should’ve talked tonight. Too late now. 

He drifted off.

\---

A floorboard creaked; the door let out the tiniest squeak as it swung on it’s hinges. Hannibal’s eyes flicked open. 

There was a moment of silence before cautious footsteps and a shadow moved across him. Hannibal didn’t roll over or even show any sign he was awake; he just listened.

“I’m sorry,” came the quiet voice and Hannibal’s heart pricked with guilt. “I won’t do it again,” He still did nothing, but the feeling of Will’s gaze unmoving on his back, even through the darkness, didn’t go and Hannibal felt himself slipping into excuses. What good would it do to anything but his pride to keep Will out there now? They’d spent almost the entire day alone, why spend the night? 

Finally, he reached his arm out behind him, still not turning any other part of his body towards Will and pulled the covers back, opening out the bed to him. Will took his opportunity quickly, as if worried Hannibal would change his mind, and sunk down on the mattress beside Hannibal. 

He retrieved Hannibal’s hand from over the covers and took it in his own, giving it a little squeeze before, to his audible disappointment, Hannibal pulled it away, settling back into the pillow, hands laid out in front of him. 

Will lay still for a few minutes but Hannibal decided it was pointless to try to get to sleep before...yes, there it was. Will shifted over to Hannibal’s side of the bed and slid his hand once down his bare back. His skin was warm and gentle and he let his hand fall over Hannibal’s side, wrapping loosely around him and pulling his body closer, so his chest was against Hannibal’s shoulder blades. 

Hannibal tried to stay as still as possible, knowing if he moved, Will would just see his weakness and wrap his arms tighter around him. He knew Will well enough to know each part of this routine was calculated and precise. Taking Hannibal to that room in his mind full of all manner of beautiful, pleasurable thoughts, he had to lock away when he was angry with Will. 

He knew Will got a kick out of knowing how much Hannibal _didn’t_ want his affection, how much every bone in Hannibal’s body holding his ego up would scream at him to stop, that it was the last thing he wanted, to give in like this to such trivial gestures; but of course, he would reply to himself, it was all he ever wanted at any moment of his life to have Will in his arms. 

Will knew all of this and, it seemed, even more about it than Hannibal, because when he rested his nose against the back of Hannibal’s neck, Hannibal shuddered and rolled his head back. 

Within a second it was disguised as annoyance rather than pleasure and he rested his head back on the pillow, letting out a deep breath. “Is this apologising, Will?” 

Will pecked a kiss onto his neck. “It was a terrible day without you.” he whispered back. “I thought you were going to take me to that exhibition,”

“I supposed you’d decided not to come when you almost broke my door off its hinges.”

Will seemed to be too preoccupied running his hands over the other man's chest and stomach to fight off the bitterness in Hannibal's words. “You still went?”

"No," It didn't come out the way Hannibal wanted. He sounded _bothered_. 

"Let's go tomorrow," Will said and Hannibal could have choked on the sweetness in his voice. He didn't have to ask: he'd said it and now it was happening. _Jesus_ , he might as well have just said, I'll get what I want from you, and you and I both know it. 

Hannibal rolled onto his back and Will hummed as he pulled himself against his chest, wrapping arms and legs over him. 

"Still angry?" he said wryly. Hannibal looked down at him in defeat. His head was resting on top of his chest, one arm under Hannibal's, the other stroking across his shoulder and one of his legs slipped in between his. 

Hannibal took a hand to the back of his head and rested it gently against his hair, bringing his own head up to kiss the top of Will's. "Just tell me where you're going next time you leave, okay?" 

Will snuggled into him. "Okay,"

**Author's Note:**

> so wtf, I found this within some other random one shots and realised I actually kinda like it. I guess this fic should really be called 'convince me otherwise (it won't take much)' but it seemed too long
> 
> hope u enjoyed. all feedback is welcome and kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. have a great day :)


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